Bayer starts selling quick-release aspirin

The logo of Germany's largest drugmaker Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals is pictured on the front of its building in Berlin April 28, 2011. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

CHICAGO (Reuters) - German drugmaker Bayer has released a souped-up version of Bayer aspirin that the company says relieves pain twice as fast as its namesake brand, the company said on Monday.

The new quick-release version, dubbed Bayer Advanced Aspirin, was released over the weekend in 500 Wal-Mart stores and is rolling out in retail chains nationwide.

The product uses a new technology that chops aspirin molecules into particles that are 10 times smaller than the original, allowing it to be absorbed more quickly.

The technology “helps to speed up disintegration of the tablet, absorption into the bloodstream and, most importantly, time to pain relief,” Dr. Wes Cetnarowski of Bayer HealthCare said in a statement.

The company says clinical studies on patients with dental pain show the drug starts working twice as quickly as the original Bayer aspirin, which was first released in 1899.

A spokeswoman said the company plans to publish the results of its clinical trials in a medical journal.

No word yet on whether the new drug is easier on the stomach than original aspirin, which can cause bleeding ulcers, but the company plans to study that, too.